Billy Idol — Rebel Yell
Author: tracysigler | Posted: May 29th, 2006 | | Tags: 1983, Billy Idol, hard rock, music, new wave, vinyl | 2 Comments »
- Artist: Billy Idol
- Title: Rebel Yell
- Year: 1983
- Format: Vinyl 12 in.
- Rating (1-10): 5
- Owner: Tracy
- Acquired: 1983 — No idea.
- Keeper: Yes
I admit that I think the title track “Rebel Yell” is a great pop song, probably Billy Idol’s best. The rest of the album is not so exciting, except for Steve Stevens excellent guitar work. I read an interview with Stevens in Guitar Player magazine back in the 1980s. He said people were always asking him to “do the raygun Steve”, and everyone wanted to know how he did it. The raygun was some killer effect/trick that he did twice in the song “Rebel Yell.” Steve didn’t want to say exactly how to do it. As I remember it, he thought it was kind of lame for people to just copy it and said people should just experiment and come up with their own stuff. I agree, but you can tell me Steve. Seriously.
I read something in what must’ve been a different guitar magazine, where they got the ray gun sound with some combination of a specific kind of delay and a compressor, I think. Some guy on the internet (TM) describes something like it here…
http://p066.ezboard.com/fbillyidolfrm2.showMessage?topicID=21.topic
It’s gotta be one of those rack-mounted delays to pull off right. So no rayguns from those old stomp boxes ;^)
It is literally a toy ray gun. Steve solders in a resistor that lets him control the speed and thats it. :)